Local singer/songwriters Meiko (MySpace) and Priscilla Ahn (MySpace) share similar qualities -- they are part-Asian (Meiko is quarter-Japanese and Ahn is half-Korean), and originally from back east (Meiko from Georgia and Ahn from Pennsylvania). So perhaps it was coincidental that both were booked in back-to-back shows last week at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, with Meiko onstage last Wednesday and Ahn last Thursday. Meiko, a one-time Hotel Cafe waitress, became a favorite of controversial......

If you totally dug the soundtrack to American Beauty (not the orchestral score by Thomas Newman, which is amazing too), then you must know that KCRW DJ Chris Douridas was behind it. His choices in music for that movie led to a Grammy nomination, but that is only one of many movies and accomplishments under his belt. As a DJ, Douridas hosts New Ground on Saturdays at noon for three hours. In September, we......

Earlier today we got Nic Harcourt's Top 10 albums of 2007. Some of our more snarky commentors were put off that some of Nic's picks included artists who were signed to omg major labels. So as we continue this week to spotlight KCRW dj's favorite cds of 2007, we shift gears to the more exotic world of Tom Schnabel whose picks are a tad more off the beaten path which is probably something to......

OUT TODAY: These and other new releases are conveniently located at your neighborhood record store (sigh) or online retailer… The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night (Astralwerks) Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime (Blue Note) The Dark Crystal: 25th Anniversary Soundtrack - Trevor Jones (La-La Land) KT Tunstall - Hold On [SINGLE] (Relentless Records) Editors - An End Has a Start (Epic) Meat Puppets - Rise to Your Knees (Anodyne) The Cribs -......

Björk - Volta (Atlantic) Bone Thugs -N- Harmony - Strength & Loyalty (Interscope) Barbara Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert [2 CD] [LIVE] (Sony) Keren Ann - Keren Ann (Blue Note) Brakes - Beatific Visions (Rough Trade) Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure / Beggars) Elliott Smith - New Moon [2 CD] (Kill Rock Stars) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge) Page France - Page France and the Family Telephone......

Air - Pocket Symphony (Astralwerks) Albert Hammond, Jr. - Yours to Keep [US] (New Line) Antibalas - Security (Anti) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Merge) !!! - Myth Takes [Bonus Disc] (Warp) Joss Stone - Tell Me ‘Bout It [SINGLE] (Virgin) KMFDM - Nihil [Bonus Track] (Metropolis) Mary Chapin Carpenter - Calling (Zoe) My Brighest Diamond - Tear It Down (Asthmatic Kitty) Ry Cooder - My Name Is Buddy (Nonesuch) Son Volt - Search......

OUT TODAY: Aereogramme - My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go (Sonic Unyon) Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked Ladies Are Men Belinda Carlisle - Voila [Bonus Disc] (Rykodisc) Bloc Party - Weekend in the City (Vice) Chicken Shack - Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (Blue Horizon) Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky) Dexys Midnight Runners - Projected Passion Revue (Umvd Import) Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five (Zedtone) Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High......

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in the sight of Rock and in the face of Roll, to join together you, dear LAist reader, and this New Music Tuesday in holy Matrimony. This mystical union is not to be entered into lightly, or unadvisedly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly (ha), and in the fear of the reaper. More cowbell. L'chaim. OUT TODAY: .38 Special - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: (A&M)......

This might be a good week to give your piggybank the ol' smasheroo and excavate your couch cushions for awol monies. The CD player NEEDS your donations. Don't delay. Rush out now in a buying frenzy. Here's a glanceable list of new noteables and rightous reissues being handed down today. Ten octzillion more after the jump... Arbouretum - Rites Of Uncovering (Thrill Jockey) The Bird & The Bee - Bird And The Bee (Blue......

Trace Adkins - Dangerous Man (Capitol) Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics (two CDs; RCA) Carmine Appice - Ultimate Guitar Zeus (Escapi) Patricia Barber - Mythologies (Blue Note) Rory Block - The Lady and Mr. Johnson (Rykodisc) Cham - Ghetto Story (Atlantic) Cherish - Unappreciated (enhanced; Capitol) Philip Glass - "The Illusionist" soundtrack (Rykodisc) Joanna - This Crazy Life (Geffen) Andy Fairweather Low - Sweet Soulful Music (Proper) Maria Muldaur - Heart of Mine:......

Ed Note: We postponed publication of Monday's LAist Interview until today in honor of the Independence Day holiday. Craig Havens, a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, is a fine art photographer whose commercial assignments have appeared in magazines such as Rolling Stone, JANE, Los Angeles Magazine, WYWS, and Detour. In 2004 he became the first American photographer to be honored with a solo exhibition at the Grand Hall Artists Union......